One Woman's #MeToo Stories

What really lead to the beginning of this Blogspot page was several women's #MeToo stories back in October 2017.  It was the overall collective of #MeToo posts that really impacted me.  However, after having seen so many posts, one individual post stood out.  One woman included several personal stories.  Something that really hit hard was how she referred to these stories as "typical" and stories that "aren't bad."  These are, however, her personal stories, and before anyone asks, she did give me permission to share:

#metoo

Just a few examples. I would say my experiences fall in the "typical" range.

4th grade 

Teacher sat me at a table with my grade's biggest troublemaker boy to help him with an assignment. As I was working, he got up and then went under the table and put his hand between my legs. I kicked him as best I could then told the teacher. She gave me a version of "boys will be boys" and told him to stay in his seat. She told me to help him finish the assignment.

7th grade

Sleeping over at a friend's house. Her older brother and his friend came in and tried to get in the beds with us. They were strong and holding us down. We yelled and told them to get out and they finally left after my friend threatened to tell. That was the first time I remember being actually afraid that I wouldn't be able to get myself out of a situation I didn't want to be in.

10th grade

At the lake. An ex-boyfriend showed up with 3 friends. They picked me up and brought me into the water where the ex tried to tear my bikini off. I fought like a goddamned banshee and managed to get away holding my undone bikini top to my chest. No one on the beach helped me.

Late teens 

Working at one of my first jobs in a retail store. My boss thought it was great fun to pretend to get something from under the counter and stroke my legs while I was ringing up customers.

Early 20s

Different retail job. Boss thought it was appropriate to talk to me about how unhappy he was with his sex life with his wife. Not just once. All. The. Time. And of course insinuating that I could help him out in that area.

I could go on.

I doubt my stories are very extraordinary. And in the scheme of things mine probably aren't considered "bad".

I hope that the men that read these accounts can feel how these events shape us as women and that they can find the courage to #dosomething to stop rape culture.

Although the impact of all those posts was big, this one had an especially large impact.  I responded by saying "I'm one of the men reading this. Thanks for sharing. I've been spending the day thinking of things I can do. I'm sorry it took so long for me to come to a realization."